Divisional Director of Nursing

Job responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

Support the delivery of care through visible clinical leadership, working in partnership with senior colleagues, clinical leads and the multidisciplinary team, and maintain oversight of day-to-day operational delivery, quality of care and patient experience.

Work with the divisional leadership team to promote a culture that nurtures and promotes effective multi-professional team working to strengthen quality and safety and promote a culture of continuous improvement.

Have oversight of patient experience and quality of care, working with local clinical teams and service leads, advising the Divisional leadership team and Chief Nurse of any concerns and promoting quality improvement.

Deliver performance indicators in relation to clinical outcomes, clinical efficiency/productivity, quality, safety and patient experience and provide regular reports on key areas of quality/safety, maintaining service dashboards and risk registers and escalating areas of concern.

Work with the relevant multidisciplinary team/leadership teams, leading on the review of patient pathways from a nursing perspective, reviewing practice and identifying initiatives to reduce length of stay, improve discharge planning and improve the experience of patients and families.

In accordance with Trusts policy for Safe Staffing and Skill Mix levels, formally agree with the Chief Nurse the workforce requirements for all clinical areas and departments, utilising acuity and dependency tools to monitor and review the nursing workforce as indicated, ensuring integration with the local delivery plan, and the optimal deployment of the nursing workforce.

Champion a safeguarding culture that meets the needs of vulnerable adults and escalate issues to relevant others accordingly.

Provide nursing clinical and professional leadership and accountability within the division to ensure that staff are able to provide a service, which delivers high quality and safe patient care in accordance with the NMC Professional Code of Conduct.

Lead on the investigation of incidents and complaints ensuring prompt, compassionate responses, promoting patient and family involvement and ensuring all recommendations and actions address key learning and deliver improvement and change.

Ensure that there are local systems and processes for nursing in place that support the delivery of kind, compassionate and respectful care which is person centred and meets the individual needs of patients.

Develop relationships with patients and families which promote listening and shared decision making and ensure that systems are in place to seek and share feedback from patients and families, and mechanisms are in place to learn and improve in response to feedback.

Provide leadership and oversight to the annual winter vaccination campaign, as directed by the Chief Nurse, ensuring safe, effective operational rollout Trustwide, timely and reporting, and internal/external stakeholder communications.

Professional Leadership and Management

Be a visible, clinical credible nurse leader and be well networked in nursing and associated specialties, ensuring that RNOH is well placed as a centre of excellence for orthopaedic/MSK nursing.

Through using highly developed leadership skills develop an environment in which staff deliver high quality services and are able to innovate and raise any concerns openly and safely.

Exercise delegated authority on behalf of the Deputy Chief Nurse/Chief Nurse to resolve day-to-day issues within clinical services.

Ensure sufficient nursing data is available within the division to monitor and track quality and performance through service line dashboards and to satisfy reporting requirements.

Provide appropriate input and challenge to clinical and business corrective action plans, where necessary.

Ensure local plans support all clinical quality internal and external accreditation, peer review regulation and regulation.

Promote a culture of inclusivity and lead on equality and diversity initiatives within the division, as required.

Oversee the environmental inspections and work programme across the division to achieve cleaning, catering, infection prevention and control and health and safety targets.

Ensure that all records are maintained as detailed in Trust policies and procedures and contribute to the ongoing development of Trust wide electronic patient records providing expert advice in relation to nursing and clinical care.

Be responsible for the performance management and monitoring of sickness, absence and appraisals for direct reports and ensure oversight throughout the divisional nursing structure, working with the HR business partner to identify trends and address any issues.

Directly manage the nursing budget, contribute to efficiency and improvement initiatives across services, and ensure that there are adequate controls in place in relation to financial governance and efficiency, together with quality and equality impact assessments.

Workforce and Education

Work in conjunction with the Training and Education Department to develop and maintain clinical learning environments that are fit for purpose, in line with quality assurance guidelines and other external regulatory bodies.

Ensure the division meets its responsibilities to provide clinical experience and mentor support for pre and post registration nurse education, and high-quality preceptorship across all areas, in line with external standards.

Provide professional leadership for nursing recruitment and retention across services and ensure timely recruitment takes place with the aim of maintaining vacancy factor targets and remove reliance on temporary staffing.

Work with senior nurses and HR colleagues to develop innovative recruitment and retention approaches and support the introduction of new ways of working, promoting innovation in nursing and workforce.

In collaboration with the Deputy Chief Nurse and other senior clinical colleagues, develop and review nursing workforce plans including a six-monthly review of nursing skill mix.

Lead on the review of nursing competencies, ensuring the nursing workforce has the appropriate skills and competencies within the speciality of orthopaedic/MSK nursing, working with the education/learning and development team to ensure the appropriate education programmes are in place.

Foster and develop a culture within nursing that values continuing professional development and strives for excellence in the delivery of patient care, developing effective relationships with university partners, other specialist centres and networks.

Quality Governance

Together with the Divisional Medical Director oversee delivery of the divisional quality governance agenda, to ensure timely and effective responses and provide assurance to the Trust Executive.

Lead on all matters of nursing quality governance and standards across the division, offering support, direction and advice but also ensuring that nurses contribute and fulfil their obligations in relation to quality and governance within their teams. The post holder will ensure adherence to timelines as they relate to investigation and response for their service.

Advise on all matters pertaining to quality, safety and patient experience across the Division and on behalf of corporate nursing and lead on key investigations, improvement initiatives, complaint responses and actions plans, as requested by the Chief Nurse/Deputy Chief Nurse.

Contribute to the development of evidence-based guidelines, policies and procedures, ensuring Trust wide documents are implemented and used across the service, submitting audit data as required.

Foster a culture which promotes high standards of safety and quality governance and values learning for improvement, ensuring that actions/recommendations and innovations are impactful and designed to deliver and demonstrate change and improve quality of care and patient experience.

Work collaboratively with colleagues to ensure that all risks are identified and included as appropriate on the organisational risk register and are progressed appropriately to reduce the risk profile.

Undertake Patient safety Incident investigations and learning responses working collaboratively with colleagues to ensure learning and change is embedded as a result of complaints and incidents ensuring appropriate monitoring, reporting and oversight of improvements.

Foster a spirit of appreciative enquiry and practice development, and promote learning from and celebration of excellence, and encourage continuous quality improvement through celebrating positive change and achievement.

Contribute to the development and implementation and monitoring of a robust system to deliver patient safety assurance.

Work with clinical teams and the PALS/Complaints department to resolve difficult and complex complaints by co-ordinating the investigations about nursing care and incidents related to nursing within the division, ensuring appropriate responses and implementation of action plans effectively resolve issues identified.

Ensure the nursing workforce adheres to health and safety requirements and promote a safe environment at all times, taking prompt actions to address shortfalls and manage risk.

Develop a culture of continuous quality improvement through ensuring processes and systems are in place to monitor and improve quality and patient experience (e.g. ward accreditation).

Please refer to the attached JD/PS for full details

Education and Professional Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Nurse
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Educated to postgraduate degree level or equivalent experience
• Management or leadership qualification or equivalent experience

Desirable

• Masters level qualification
• Recognised teaching/assessing qualification

Communication & Relationship Skills

Essential

• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to influence through motivating and energising others to deliver the highest quality of care for best patient outcomes
• Leadership skills to be able to establish a direction for others using wherever possible, sound coaching and positive mentoring
• Aptitude to engage in constructive collaboration with internal and external stakeholders to achieve success through partnership
• Excellent negotiating and influencing skills Ability to write and present reports in diplomatic style

Knowledge, Training & Experience

Essential

• Experience of managing serious incidents and HR/disciplinary processes
• Significant experience in a senior nursing leadership role and high level of expert nursing knowledge
• Well networked in the relevant professional/specialty networks
• Demonstrable success in delivering change and performance with and through others
• In-depth professional knowledge acquired through training and experience over an extended period
• Experience of stakeholder/patient and family engagement
• A track record of successfully improving quality, standard setting, completion of benchmarking and audit
• Knowledge of QI methodologies
• Experience of managing staffing establishments and analysing safe staffing data
• Experience of supporting learners in practice
• Up to date with current practice/professional issues in healthcare/nursing
• Operates with delegated authority from Deputy Chief Nurse

Desirable

• Experience of working with the third sector/ patient groups

Analytical & Judgment Skills

Essential

• Analyse complex information to make clinical operational decisions
• Attention to detail
• Ability to critically analyse complex information and data sets
• Proven experience of analysing complex problems and successfully adapting practical and pragmatic solutions
• Ability to work under pressure in a dynamic environment
• Able to adapt to changing requirements of the post

Planning & Organisational Skills

Essential

• Accomplished at working to deadlines and within set resources
• Ability to plan and think strategically, to prioritise in the face of competing demands
• Excellent people and resource management
• Capable of dealing with high degrees of ambiguity

Desirable

• Project Management 2

IT skills

Essential

• Proficiency with MS Office packages including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams

Desirable

• Involvement in implementing a new digital system such as an electronic health record

Responsibility for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Essential

• Demonstrable commitment to anti-discriminatory and inclusive behaviours and practices
• Acts with integrity; values, respects and promotes equality and diversity; service excellence; patient centred approach; teamwork and mutual respect

Responsibility for Policy/Service Development

Essential

• Experience of service and quality improvement programmes
• Experience of developing, drafting and implementing clinical guidelines, policies, standard operating procedures

Responsibility for financial & physical resources

Essential

• Delivery of budget management
• Supports cost savings programmes
• Helping others to understand finance duties and responsibilities

Responsibility for Research & Development

Essential

• Understanding of evidenced base practice, research and practice development

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).